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Heading south out of Beaune, the mere sight of the evocative names of the villages Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, and Chassagne-Montrachet can cause the hair to stand up on the back of one's neck. These three villages, along with Aloxe-Corton (wherein lies the grand cru Corton-Charlemagne) to the north of Beaune, are the source of the greatest dry white wines in the world. Period.
Despite their proximity (the villages south of Beaune are only a
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Heading south out of Beaune, the mere sight of the evocative names of the villages Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, and Chassagne-Montrachet can cause the hair to stand up on the back of one's neck. These three villages, along with Aloxe-Corton (wherein lies the grand cru Corton-Charlemagne) to the north of Beaune, are the source of the greatest dry white wines in the world. Period.
Despite their proximity (the villages south of Beaune are only a kilometer or two apart from each other), their terroirs are vastly different. Driving south from Volnay, one first encounters Meursault. Generally speaking, these are the richest and fullest whites of the Côte de Beaune and often have a hint of hazelnut to them. Meursault's greatest vineyard, however, Les Perrières, is—almost perversely—the antithesis of that characterization: it's typically imbued with a certain dynamic tension and is powerfully mineral in its expression. Indeed, Les Perrières has more in common with the wines of Puligny-Montrachet (the next village south as one leaves Meursault), which are known for their rapier-like thrust, their finely-drawn precision, elegance, and finesse. The last of this trio of "white wine villages," Chassagne-Montrachet (which is in fact a source for as much red as white), have some of the richness and size of a Meursault and some of the finesse of a Puligny.
The real reason the Côte de Beaune is venerated for its whites, of course, is the patch of land straddling the western boundary separating Chassagne from Puligny. Here are situated the white grands crus Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet, Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet (actually entirely in Chassagne), Chevalier-Montrachet (entirely in Puligny), and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet (ditto).
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